URI Master Gardeners open their gardens to visitors for statewide garden tour, June 12-13, Sept. 25-26
The
gardens will be open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day, rain or shine, for
Rhode Island’s only statewide garden tour.
Tickets
cost $30 and include admission for one to the gardens on both tour weekends, a
new smartphone app download to help with driving directions to the tour
gardens, and a link to a guidebook that includes garden descriptions. Printed
guidebooks may be requested by mail for an additional $5 fee. Children under 18
will be admitted free. Additional ticketing information is available at web.uri.edu/mastergardener/tour.
“Each of the gardens on the tour is unique, evolving over the years and reflecting the changing interests and lifelong learning of its gardener,” said Mary Ann Buckley, a Master Gardener volunteer who is coordinating the tour with URI Cooperative Extension staff. “Our volunteers are opening their gardens to the public as a teaching tool because our mission is to help local residents choose environmentally-sound gardening practices. After visiting these gardens, we hope you’ll be inspired to go home and try something new.”
Gardens
on the tour are located in Charlestown, Cumberland, East Greenwich, East
Providence, Foster, Glocester, Narragansett, Newport, North Kingstown,
Portsmouth, Providence, and South Kingstown, Rhode Island, with additional
gardens in Seekonk, Massachusetts and Stonington, Connecticut. Fourteen of the
twenty-six gardens have never been featured on previous tours.
According
to Buckley, each garden is unique in name and design. Many support pollinators
and attract beneficial insects with native and other flowering plants, while
others are designed for homestead-scale vegetable and fruit production. Each
garden is tended with the principles of integrated pest management in mind,
with minimal or no chemical inputs or soil disturbance.
URI
Master Gardeners will greet visitors in their gardens, ready to share
science-based horticultural information about best gardening practices and
answer questions.
The
garden tour is hosted by URI Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardener Program,
which uses a train-the-trainer approach to educate citizens in science-based
gardening topics. Graduates of a 14-week training course and 50-hour
internship, numbering more than 600 active volunteers in Rhode Island, serve as
grassroots educators, teaching their fellow citizens in schools, demonstration
gardens and public events.
All
tour participants are asked to assess their health prior to visiting any of the
gardens. Those feeling sick or with an elevated temperature should stay home.
Everyone, including the garden hosts, are required to wear masks and practice
social distancing. Hand sanitizer will be available for use.
Proceeds
from the tour will benefit the educational programs of the URI Master Gardener
Program, including the Gardening and Environmental Hotline, free soil pH
testing service, information kiosks and public presentations.